This panel discussion will address rising political polarization, the emotional toll of documenting contentious issues, and open discussions about the mental health challenges filmmakers face, promoting conversations about self-care and emotional well-being in the context of social justice filmmaking.

Moderated by Julian Carrington, Executive Director, Documentary Organization of Canada.

Keywords: BIPOC, protest & resistance, technology & media

‘Everything has a voice’

Lips pressed against a mic with a determination to be heard, even in fragmented lines, distorting. Two gloved hands wave over a series of objects arranged on a large white table; a VHS player and CRT Monitor, a Cassette Player, three mixers, a camera, a power bar and several charging cells, the crackling electromagnetic static they emit made audible and interruptive. Their wires spill over the edge of the desk, entangled.

‘Sound is something that you can feel beyond your skin’

“Listening Gloves” designed as an instrument to play different pulsing electromagnetic frequencies of curated technological artifacts through touch. In this process of amplification, they tune into sounds as though they are rhythms of a living being.

This is “Sandpaper Hammock”, a solo multimedia performance series where improvised sound compositions are played off of technological artifacts in combination with original poetry recitations. Through sound, a story unfolds, inviting embodied feeling as a vehicle to share in ways that do not center language over sensation.

Static is used as a material of resistance; the electromagnetic frequencies made audible are a sonic reminder of a friction that exists between surface and depth, a disruption of smoothness. During the set, the camera is turned onto the audience and the frequencies generated from a live feed on a CRT are an act of subversion.

This piece disrupts the focus by interrogating the nature of viewership through technology in the performance itself. People are asked to “watch themselves, watching me. Who remembers longer? The static, the screen, or the human being?’